


What's your name?

by NinPotato



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Nerd Hux, foreign exchange student hux, jock kylo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-09
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-07-28 10:07:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16239449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NinPotato/pseuds/NinPotato
Summary: British exchange student Armitage Hux swears he won’t let anything distract him from his studies - no clubs or extracurriculars, no movies, no video games, and no boys.  Especially not the one in his biology class, Ben Solo.  Despite being incredibly good-looking, Ben’s also a walking stereotype.  He’s the classic high school jock ripped right out of a teen romance flick: athletic, rich, popular, and full of charisma.Everything Hux hates, but also kind of wishes he was.





	What's your name?

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little thing I wrote to go with something I drew. There's a link to the art in the end notes.

British exchange student Armitage Hux swears he won’t let anything distract him from his studies - no clubs or extracurriculars, no movies, no video games, and no boys. Especially not the one in his biology class, Ben Solo. Despite being incredibly good-looking, Ben’s also a walking stereotype. He’s the classic high school jock ripped right out of a teen romance flick: athletic, rich, popular, and full of charisma.

Everything Hux hates, but also kind of wishes he was.

It should be easy to ignore him, really. Ben is also an airhead, Hux quickly realizes. There isn’t anything interesting about him besides his looks - the one thing that’s atypical enough for Hux to keep glancing his way from time to time.

Hux may be doing more than just glancing today, though, as Ben’s eyes suddenly meet his. Before Hux can look away, Ben gives him a glowing smile that makes his face heat up until he’s sure it's redder than his hair.

Then it’s as if the tables have turned: Hux tries even harder than before to ignore Ben, but he can tell the other boy is now openly staring at him. Hux keeps his head down, hopefully giving off the impression that he’s focused on taking notes while the teacher drones on about the mitochondria being the powerhouse of the cell. He’s beginning to think it’s working when he distinctly feels something small bounce off his shoulder.

Hux pretends like he didn’t feel it, hoping Ben will lose interest and leave him alone, but then he feels something hit him again and again and again. When he feels something significantly heavier bounce off of him, he resigns himself to looking over at Ben once more.

_What’s your name?_

Hux blinks rapidly, expecting the scrawled message on the notebook Ben is so casually holding up to transform into something else. When it doesn’t, Hux returns to his notes.

After all, Hux has already been formally introduced in front of the entire school. As there were no more than two hundred students, his arrival was made out to be some kind of big event. They had an actual _welcoming_ _party_ for him in the gymnasium.

After classes started, Hux endured a whole two weeks of constant questions about his home, his family, his accent, his favorite sports teams, his pets’ names, and all sorts of other things he couldn’t be bothered to remember. Every one of those questions was met with a clipped one or two-word answer as Hux attempted to escape, and yet the questions just kept coming. Hux can’t remember Ben Solo ever asking him anything during the two-week nightmare, but he must have heard about him, right?

Fearing another round of questions, Hux packs up early and makes a mad dash for the classroom door as soon as the bell rings.

 

\---

 

Ben doesn’t try to get his attention again the next day or even the day after that, but Hux can tell he’s still staring. Part of him wishes Ben would just spit it out already so they could both move on with their lives, but another, smaller part of him hopes he never does. Maybe he would if Hux gave him the chance instead of running away every time.

Hux convinces Rae drop him off at school a bit earlier than usual today with the excuse that he needs access to one of the calculus books in the library. It’s not entirely a lie since Hux does have a calculus quiz this Friday, but the book Hux is _truly_ interested in has nothing to do with the subject.

It’s _Galaxaria_ , a relatively new science fiction novel by Hux’s favorite author. Hux had promised Rae (and himself) that he would avoid the nonfiction section of the school library, and he had fully intended to do just that. After more than two weeks of non-stop studying and absolutely zero time spent just enjoying himself, a quick glance at the library’s online catalog is enough to shatter Hux’s resolve.

He can’t officially check it out without Rae eventually noticing, but she will never find out if he just reads it at the library before classes start. It will take ages to finish, but if _Galaxaria_ turns out to be even half as good as Brown’s other novels it will definitely be worth it.

As Hux enters the library, he’s reasonably certain no one has checked it out already. Rebecca Brown is an incredibly talented individual, but she’s not very well-known. Hux has never managed to find anyone else who reads her novels or even her short stories. When he tried to convince a few of his friends back in England to try her debut novel, they all complained about it being “too dense,” “too slow,” or just “too boring.”

Unfortunately, that’s how it is with a lot of the things Hux enjoys the most.

“Bowling, Bowsey, Bree, Brigate, Brill...Brown,” Hux quietly reads off the spines of the books as he searches for the novel. As to be expected, there are many authors with that last name. Hux even ends up having to stoop low to the ground to see the books at the bottom of the shelf. He’s beginning to wonder if someone else had checked it out already when he catches sight of it at the top of the next shelf just out of the corner of his eye. When he goes to reach for it, however, so does someone else.

Startled, Hux turns to see that it’s none other than Ben Solo himself.

“Um...are you sure you have the right book?” Hux asks.

Ben’s response is a smile so radiant it rivals the sun itself.

**Author's Note:**

> The art I based this on is [here.](https://ninpotato.tumblr.com/post/178868059138/british-exchange-student-armitage-hux-swears-he)


End file.
